NC man faces charge of attempting to join al-Qaida

A North Carolina man is facing federal charges that he sought to join an al-Qaida-linked militant group fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

A federal criminal indictment says 29-year-old Basit Javed Sheikh of Cary is charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He was arrested before boarding a flight to Lebanon.

An FBI agent said in a sworn affidavit that Sheikh told an informant he was going to join the group called the Nusrah Front in Syria.

The Pakistan native first appeared in court last week and had two federal public defenders assigned to represent him. The defense attorneys could not be reached Monday because their office was closed for Veterans Day. Messages to phone numbers listed for Sheikh were not returned.